To complement my daily blog interviews I recently started a series of Author Spotlights and today’s, the third, is of Anne K Albert. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate the author further. You can read the others here.

Anne K. Albert (and yes, that is her AKA) has taught high school art, sold display advertising for a small town weekly newspaper, and worked for a national brand water company, but now writes full time.

A member of the Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and married to her high school sweetheart for more than a quarter of a century, it’s a given she’d write mystery and romantic suspense.

When not in her home office, she enjoys traveling, visiting friends and family, knitting, crocheting, and of course, reading.

And now from the author herself:

Self-confidence has always been my Achilles heel. I realized I had a major problem a few years ago when I attended a writer’s workshop. The guest author stated we are our greatest supporter.

Huh? Not me. Deep in my heart I didn’t believe I was good enough to be published.

That changed last summer. I was reading a book by a well known author who shall remain nameless. It was taking me forever to get into the story. I didn’t care about the protagonist. The author’s use of language pulled me out of the story. Reading it was work. I closed the book and vowed not to read another word.

“I can write better than that,” I said. That’s when lightning struck!

For the very first time I realized it was true. I could write a better story. In fact, I’d written two! But where they? Collecting dust in my home office.

Why? Because I undervalued my skill and ability. I expected agent and editor rejections. I was sabotaging my career before it even began!

Does this sound familiar?

If so, is your lack of self-confidence a result of a childhood with too few supporters? Or is it more? Something more complex? The answer may surprise you. It certainly did me.

Shortly after I declared “I can write better than that” a friend asked how my writing was going. She added that one day she expected to see my name on a book cover. I replied the very idea of being in the public eye terrified me to no end. She arched a brow, and insisted I think long and hard about what I’d just divulged.

By the end of the day I realized my lack of confidence was not the only thing holding me back.

I know it sounds weird (and it probably is), but I’m an intensely private person. I can’t imagine sharing anything of a personal nature with a stranger. Yet writing a book is about as personal as one can get! How did I address this problem?

I decided to assume a penname. Almost immediately that fear of publication disappeared. I sent out more submissions. Contacted agents and editors. Two months later I was offered a publishing contract.

This past June FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL, the first of my Muriel Reeves Mysteries, received the 2011 Holt Medallion Award of Merit.

My advice? Writer know thyself! What’s really keeping you from achieving your goal? Gatekeepers are one thing…but we all hold the key to our future in our own hands.

Happy writing!

Thank you Anne! 🙂 Links to Anne and her writing:

DEFENDING GLORY is book one of the Piedmont Island Trilogy series. A romantic suspense, it tells the story of a woman who believes unconditionally, and a man who is convinced there is no master plan, no purpose to life, and most certainly no merciful God in Heaven. Of course, when his life and Glory’s are threatened, this ex-FBI agent vows to keep her safe. But can he protect his heart as well? It’s available in print or e-copy at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

PROTECTING HOPE, book two of the Piedmont Island Trilogy will be released late 2011.

FRANK, INCENSE AND MURIEL is the first book of the Muriel Reeves Mysteries. Set the week before Christmas when the stress of the holidays is enough to frazzle anyone’s nerves, tensions increase when a close friend begs Muriel to team up with a sexy private investigator to find a missing woman. Forced to deal with an embezzler, kidnapper, and femme fatale is bad enough, but add Muriel’s zany yet loveable family to the mix and their desire to win the D-DAY (Death Defying Act of the Year) Award, and the situation can only get worse. It’s available in print or e-copy at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with multi-genre Lillian Stewart Carl – the one hundred and sixth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, directors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found at https://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/blog-interviews. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com. You can also read / download my eBooks here.

Thank you for these wonderful words of inspiration!! I don’t have a novel in my head, but who knows? I do think about memories…I write essays and whatever pops into my head. Not until I started a blog did I even call myself “a writer.” It still feels odd to day that. I think of a writer as “those other people” and not myself. I know I have a self-confidence issue and I really want to get to the bottom of it. Or just overcome it! Thank you for this, it really made me think. I just ordered my first AKA book today 🙂 Looking forward to reading it.

Self confidence is an on going process for me. Four months after the release of my debut novel I mentioned to my editor I’d decided to enter a few contests for published authors. “It makes me feel like a real writer,” I said. She replied, “You ARE.”

It’s a fine line I’d say between writer and author. For me a writer is someone who writes, to any extent, an author would be someone who has completed works. I agree that, although I’ve had shorter pieces published, I’m going to contradict myself as it feels odd calling myself a writer without making a living out of it. Someday soon I hope. 🙂 And thank you for buying one of Anne’s book; I’m sure we’d love to hear your feedback and I look forward to bringing Anne’s interview on 20th October.

Inspiring blog, Anne. And since I’ve already read the book, I can truthfully say it was a delight. I really enjoyed it and I’m waiting for the next one.

And Morgen, if you’ve had something published, then you’re a writer whether you want to admit it or not. As far as I’m concerned, anyone who’s put a story on paper is a writer, even if they’ve never been published and even if they’re not making a bundle of money from it.